You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!

Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.

Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.

Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

Sorry to step into this thread so late, but I didn't pay much attention to it before =)

I am running a bunch of slackware instances for different purposes. My main desktop systems are 3: office pc, home desktop, home laptop. And I run the three possible variants of slackware on them:

- office desktop is a Slackware64 with 32-bit multilibs (gotta run Adobe Reader, etc.)
- home desktop is a 32bit slackware (on 64 bit hardware)
- home laptop is a pure Slackware64 without 32bit anywhere

I think there's still need for a full 32bit system, both for old hardware and for those situations when you know that you will only be running third-party 32bit stuff, and everything should always be repackaged with convert32.

Maybe an official option to boot a 64 bit kernel could be added to 32 bit Slackware? I think of an additional choice just like the existing smp and nonsmp kernels. The Linux kernel officially supports such a configuration.

Advantages: You can a run a 32 bit system (for whatever reason) on a 64 bit CPU without the >896 MB RAM performance penalty. And you have an official way to boot a 32 bit Slackware on a pure UEFI sytem without the CSM.

Maybe an official option to boot a 64 bit kernel could be added to 32 bit Slackware?

You could already do this. Just grab the 64-bit kernel and modules packages from Slackware64 (e.g. kernel-generic-3.2.29-x86_64-1 and kernel-modules-3.2.29-x86_64-1 on 14.0) and install these instead of their 32-bit counterparts.

Last edited by ruario; 03-25-2013 at 12:37 PM.
Reason: forgot to mention modules

You could already do this. Just grab the 64-bit kernel and modules packages from Slackware64 (e.g. kernel-generic-3.2.29-x86_64-1 and kernel-modules-3.2.29-x86_64-1 on 14.0) and install these instead of their 32-bit counterparts.

I know, I already tried this. But this is neither well tested nor officially supported by Slackware. The "instead" is indeed the first problem, because the files from the 32 and 64 bit kernel packages are overwriting each other.

An official 64 bit kernel package would be installable beside the existing kernels without conflicts and have a well-tested configuration optimized for running a 32 bit distribution on a 64 bit processor.

The questions that come to my mind here:
- If I understand that correctly, some UEFI systems do not support 32 bit installations?
- What (if anything) must be different from the standard 64 bit kernel if I want to use a 64 bit kernel in place of a 32 bit one?
- Is there any (somewhat common) use case where 32 and 64 bit kernels should be available on the system?

And why do you need both the 32-bit and 64-Bit kernels installed? Do you imagine you will flip back and forth between them regularly?

It's great to have a fallback selectable via the boot loader, when you stumble upon software (like VirtualBox), which isn't compatible with this configuration.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TobiSGD

- If I understand that correctly, some UEFI systems do not support 32 bit installations?

UEFI itself is either 64 bit only or 32 bit only on x86. This is at the choice of the firmware vendor, not of user. Of course, all mainstream PC UEFI firmwares go for 64 bit, because only this is supported by Windows. The only way to get into real mode (and from there into a CPU mode of your choice) is the CSM, which emulates a BIOS.

Quote:

What (if anything) must be different from the standard 64 bit kernel if I want to use a 64 bit kernel in place of a 32 bit one?

That's a good question, that I can't answer. Linux kernel configuration is a whole science for itself. In the 1.2/2.0 days, where I regularly built kernel configurations from scratch, I knew what about 80 % of the options meant, today it's more the opposite. :-)